


Everybody Dies

by Risus_cladis



Category: House M.D.
Genre: Angst, Everybody Dies, F/M, Feels, Funeral, Post Everybody Dies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-13
Updated: 2014-03-15
Packaged: 2018-01-15 14:51:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1308847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Risus_cladis/pseuds/Risus_cladis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Before she had time to call him back, another call from him was coming in.  She answered the phone, she could feel her stomach sinking as she held the device to her ear, “What’s going on?  It says you called me seven times what-“ but that was all she got out before he cut in, his words ringing in her ears, ‘house is dead’.</p>
<p>Post Everybody Dies, set two years after House fakes his death, Cuddy is settled in her new life, this shows how Cuddy reacted to hearing House died, and how she'll react when she finds out he isn't</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Everybody Lies

**Author's Note:**

> I've been looking for a fanfic set after "Everybody Dies" about what happened to Cuddy and how she handled hearing House was dead and I haven't found one and I've been looking for a while and finally I just decided "Fuck it, I'll write it then if no one else will" so I did, and here it is.
> 
> Comment or kudos, or neither, whatever, just let me know what you think!

After House had lost his mind and drove a car through her house, Lisa Cuddy made the hard decision to quit her job and move to Massachusetts with Rachel. After they moved she quickly picked up her old title as Dean of Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. The hospital was nice, the people were sane, and it was quiet (well, compared to Princeton-Plainsboro), just what she needed. It had been two years; two years to the day that she had heard the news, and as she whisked the eggs for scrambled breakfast, her mind wandered back, remembering how that day had unfolded. 

\-----

The day started out like any other normal day, with a feisty four year old on the loose around the house as she tried to finish up reading the last few applications for an empty position. A man by the name of Josh Simmons seemed to be the most likely candidate so far, the only problem was that he wanted more money then the position offered. He was extremely qualified, much more so then all the others in the (reject) pile, and if she made an argument with the board she was sure they would give in, after all he wasn’t asking for that much more. She made her way to her office across the apartment to grab a pad of post-it notes, carefully navigating around Rachel’s toys that were sprawled across the hallway. It was nine in the morning, which was early for a Saturday, but she had to finish and pick the top three candidates for the position before she went into work at twelve. The babysitter came around eleven, so she had time to kill still. 

When she got back to her bedroom with the post-it’s she noticed her phone was lit up. Her heart dropped a bit when she picked it up, reading seven missed calls from a James Wilson. Before she had time to call him back, another call from him was coming in. She answered the phone, she could feel her stomach sinking as she held the device to her ear, “What’s going on? It says you called me seven times what-“ but that was all she got out before he cut in, his words ringing in her ears, ‘house is dead’. She didn’t go to work that day; instead she spent the day crying. Rachel stayed at her friend Elaina’s apartment that night and the day after, Cuddy was friends with the mother, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted her daughter to see her crying around the house. Wilson had told her about the funeral, telling her she had to go, but she didn’t, she couldn’t. She gave herself three days, three days to pull herself together. Three days went and passed and she did it, she pulled herself together enough so that she wouldn’t breakdown, enough so that the physical pain she felt for this loss wasn’t visible. Wilson called her the day of the funeral, a few times, but after that she hadn’t heard from him since.

\-----

Lisa snapped out of her thoughts, pouring the eggs into a large skillet. Rachel and her friend would be up soon, and it was never fun dealing with a hungry six year old, let alone two. As predicted, five minutes later the sound of scurrying footsteps came down the hall, Rachel and her friend Elaina emerged from her bedroom, “Good morning you two, I made eggs, bacon, and toast” Lisa smiled at the two girls, setting a plate down in front of each of them and one down in the empty spot next to them.

“Thanks mommy” Rachel smiled, quickly grabbing a piece of wheat toast off one of the platters and forcefully shoving it into her mouth.

“Yeah, thanks Ms. Lisa” Elaina yawned, picking up her fork and popping a piece of egg into her mouth.

“No problem girls, remember, Elaina, your mom is going to come in an hour to pick you two up. Rachel, I’m going to pick you up when I’m done work at ten, if I get to late you’re just going to stay over. I’ll pack you a bag-“

“Mooooooom,” Rachel objected, parts of toast spitting out of her mouth as she tried to talk, “I’m a grown up big girl, I can pack myself, I go to school, remember?”

Ever since Rachel started first grade she had become a “grown up big girl”, and it was necessary whenever someone directed anything at her as if she was a baby, she was quickly point out that she went to school which meant she was grown up, so they were ultimately wrong, “Right, right, sorry, you can pack your bag yourself, just don’t forget to do it, alright?” With a nod of the head Rachel assured her she would remember, stuffing some egg into her mouth with the rest of the toast.

After breakfast was eaten and the dishes were cleared, Elaina and Rachel went off to play in the playroom while Lisa quickly packed a bag just in case. An hour came and went and soon enough Elaina’s mom, Tracie, was here. The two were friends, actually, if Lisa was being honest Tracie was her closest friend she had. She lived two floors down, the two met when almost right after Lisa and Rachel moved in, the young girls clicked immediately as well, and soon they were stuck at the hip. Either Elaina was at her apartment or Rachel was at theirs, and it was convenient since they lived in the same complex. As the girls ran out the door, Elaina giving her mother a hug, Lisa quickly grabbed Rachel, “Alright gimmie a kiss, and don’t forget your bag”

“Moooom I said I could pack it!” the six year old moaned, reluctantly taking the ladybug backpack.

“But did you?” 

“No..” she huffed and she slung the bag over her shoulder, kicking an invisible rock. Quickly getting over the loss of opportunity to show off how much of a grown up big girl she was, she kissed her mom and off the three went, leaving Lisa alone to get ready for work.

\-----

Work went like normal, not a special day, which was nice, it was nice when there wasn’t a life or death situation; today everybody lived (well, except Mr. Tarson, but he had been in a coma for two months and was eighty-two, the family decided to pull life support). She climbed the five flights of stairs to reach her floor, then made her way to her door number. She had decided to stop home and change first then head down to Tracie’s and grab Rachel; after all it was only ten fifteen. As she made her way to her bedroom she kicked her shoes off and slipped out of her work clothes. She grabbed a plain grey v-neck and pulled on a pair of black sweatpants, throwing on a sweater cardigan since the hallway was a bit chilly. She made her way to the bathroom to take a quick pee before she headed down but was stopped by a hard knock on the door. Lisa made her way over to the door, maybe Tracie had seen her and was bringing Rachel back up? But when would she have seen her? She shook off the though as she approached the door, cursing a bit as she tried to unlock the door. 

It took her a second or two but she got it, finally opening the door for whoever it was, except it wasn’t whoever. As she stood face to face with what seemed like a ghost, all of her words were lost. She stood in her spot, quietly gaping at the man before her, his eyes were bloodshot red, hair was disheveled, his face had a gash on it from the corner of his eyebrow to the bottom of his jaw, his clothes had a bit of blood on them but other then that they seemed fine, and his left hand was clenched so tightly around an orange pill bottle that his knuckles were white. When she finally gained her ability to use words again there wasn’t many she could say, but one came to mind, “House?”

House stood there unmoved, his eyes still fixed on hers, “I need your help, please”


	2. Everybody Cries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Her hand wandered, down his neck, landing on his chest, feeling his heart beating faster then it should. Finally she forced her eyes to meet with his blood red eyes again, “House?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, second chapter, I think there's gonna be four, maybe five, but here it is!

It took her a few seconds to realize what was happening was real, Gregory House was standing in front of her, at least she thought. Carefully she reached out and slowly touched his cheek; she could feel the scruff that covered his skin, he must not have shaved in two weeks. Her hand wandered, down his neck, landing on his chest, feeling his heart beating faster then it should. Finally she forced her eyes to meet with his blood red eyes again, “House?”

“Please” she could see he wasn’t okay, he probably downed a handful of those pills already, and she couldn’t just leave him like this. She took a step away from the doorway, giving him room to come in. He made his way into the apartment as she shut the door behind him.

“House, how-“ she turned to face him, trying to get some kind of answers (like what’s going on, are you okay, how many pills did you take, and probably the most confusing one of why aren’t you dead), but before the rest of her words came out his arms were wrapped around her, pulling her into him tight. At first she thought about struggling, but after a second she realized that he wasn’t trying to hurt her, or pressure her, he was trying not to fall apart. Her arms wrapped around him, squeezing him tightly, and even though she was pretty pissed off at him still, and she didn’t get why he wasn’t dead, she loved him and she always would and seeing him like this broke her heart. They stayed like that for a while, just holding each other, not saying a word until finally he pulled away, quickly whipping his eyes and turning around so she wouldn’t see. Her eyes ran from the back of his head down to the pill bottle that was still clutched in his hand. Carefully she reached over for him, wrapping her hand around his, removing the bottle from his grasp. She knew before she read the label that it was vicodin, it had always been his poison of choice. 

After another minute of regaining himself he turned to face her again, “I’m sorry, I know that you probably don’t want to see me, but I need you, just, please”

He looked so lost, and as Lisa shuffled through her brain, the only time she could think of him looking anywhere near this bad was when he thought she was dying and in response took vicodin, “Let me get you some pillows and a blanket, you can sleep on the couch” with that she left him there as she gathered up some things for him, she also called Tracie and let her know that Rachel was going to stay the night (which wasn’t that big of a deal seeing as the girl was already in her pajamas and falling asleep to a movie with Elaina). When she returned to the living room she found House looked through the line of picture frames that decorated the mantelpiece, currently she could see him eying a picture of himself and Rachel, she had taken the picture years ago when he wasn’t looking, “I love that one”

Without even turning around he responded, “I was a horrible boyfriend, horrible friend at that, not a horrible model apparently” he joked dryly, but Cuddy didn’t laugh, she was to worried, “I’m sorry, really”

“For which? Crashing a car into my house almost killed my daughter and me? Taking vicodin when you thought I was dying? Or how about faking your death? Was there a plan behind that one or was it just to see how upset I would get?” she didn’t want to get mad at him, not when he seemed to be on the verge of collapsing, but she had the pills away from him now and she’d dealt with angry and mean House before, and she sure as hell could do it again.

“All of them, I’m sorry for being a shitty person to you, you didn’t deserve that,” but she didn’t get angry House, or mean House, it was the rare version of House that was empathetic and was vulnerable, “I didn’t fake my death to make you upset, there was much more practical reasons behind it, like not going to jail and missing my best friends last days”

The room went silent; when she had spoken to Wilson he never mentioned that he was sick, why didn’t he? She could see House tensing up, this was it, this was why he was here. She reached out and took his hand in hers, leading him over to the couch. He got himself situated and as she went to walk away she felt his hand on hers, grabbing her lightly, “Wait,” she turned back around to see what it was he needed, but she was met with tear-filled eyes and a hollow face, “Please” she knew what he was asking, and she knew that even if she wanted to she couldn’t say no to him. The couch wasn’t large enough for both of them; they made their way into her bedroom. House took the left side of the bed while Cuddy took the right, he didn’t try to close the space between them, didn’t even try to touch her; he just laid there quietly. Cuddy had her back to him, but eventually she had to turn around to see him, it had been three years since she had seen him, longer if you’re counting the not crazy version. When she turned over she saw that his eyes were shut, but his face was damp from what she guessed was tears. 

She took a breath in, knowing what she was getting herself into, and to be honest, she knew she never really got out before, and she never would. Reaching over, she laid her hand on top of him, causing him to open his eyes, he probably hadn’t even been sleeping, “I’m sorry”

A confused look came across Houses face at her apology, “For what?”

“That whatever happened, happened. I know you probably don’t want to talk about it yet, but if it happened, I’m sorry, because it shouldn’t have” she squeezed his hand lightly, which seemed to make him relax a bit.

Neither one of them talked for a while, they just laid there, holding hands in the silence. Every once in a while she would open her eyes a bit to see what was going on with him, and every time he was staring up at the ceiling, until finally he talked, “It should have been me, ya know, the selfish ass hole is supposed to die, not the caring oncologist, let alone from cancer, what kind of bullshit is that?”

So Wilson died, she was right, and from cancer nonetheless. She squeezed his hand tighter, shifted closer to him, “You’re not an ass hole, not all the time at least. You said you faked your own death so you could spend time with him-“

“I wouldn’t have had to do that if I wasn’t supposed to go to jail.” 

She could tell she wasn’t going to win this argument with him, not in the state of mind he was in at least. Instead, she leaned over him and kissed his cheek, “You’re not a horrible person House. Can you tell me about it, please?”

She offered him a tearful smile, it wasn’t fair and she knew it. Wilson shouldn’t have died, but that doesn’t mean that she wished House had died instead, and if they kept up with that conversation they would both get angry and frustrated and just plain sad, so she changed the subject to one she wanted to hear about. He started to talk to her about what actually happened, the building, how Wilson actually started to trash him at his funeral until he texted him to stop talking. He told her about their travels, they traveled all over the United States on motorcycle; they would take out a map, point, and go. He told her how they did that for almost a year and a half, which was crazy because the doctors had told him he had less then six months to live. About five months ago things went downhill, they ended up staying in Maine for the past four months, taking things easy up until the last month when he had to stay in the hospital. House stayed with him the whole time, right up until he asked if he would get the nurse to get him some food, when he came back with his food, he had passed; that was two weeks ago. There were tears down both of their faces, Cuddy had always cared about Wilson, and she cared about House, “You are the best friend that he could ever have had House, don’t ever tell yourself otherwise”

“Really?” he looked at her with such sadness, it cracked something in her, she couldn’t get words out of her mouth so she just nodded, wiping a tear from her eye, “He deserved a lot, ya know, not that” 

Cuddy moved closer to House, her body now pressed against his, her head was leaning on his arm, “I know, but you can’t change the past, that’s why it’s the past.”

House wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly as if she was the thing that was keeping him anchored, if he let go of her he’d be lost. As the minutes passed his grip loosened, becoming more relaxed the more he started to fall asleep, “I didn’t” he mumbled into the top of her head.

“Didn’t what?” she asked wearily, they were both on the verge of sleep.

“The pills, I didn’t take them, that’s why I came here” he tried to explain, “I promised, I promised I wouldn’t, I have to keep it”

She understood, a small smile crept on to her almost asleep face. With whatever energy she had left, she tilted her face and kissed him on the cheek one last time before falling asleep in his arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
